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ZSC2001CSS General Electric Microwave - Instructions

Installation Instructions for parts on models starting with ZSC2001CSS

These instructions have been submitted by other PartSelect customers and can help guide you through the microwave repair with useful information like difficulty of repair, length of repair, tools needed, and more.

Microwave completely stopped working

Turned out the issue was easily solved by replacing a single, inexpensive fuse.

First off, UNPLUG THE MICROWAVE.

The fuse is located under the plastic grill at the top of the microwave. It's held on by two screws. Once you've removed the screws and taken off the plastic grill, you go to the right side of the microwave and remove another screw that holds a small metal grill in place. Removing the small metal grill is probably the toughest part of this repair. You kind of have to rock it back and forth a bit to get it to release. Once that's off, you can get to the fuse. I removed the burnt out one with a pair of needle nose pliers. I also put a small piece of cardboard under the fuse when I did this so I didn't accidentally drop it into the innards of the microwave. I did the same thing when I replaced the new fuse. I then plugged the appliance back in and made sure it worked. Once that was confirmed, I replaced both grills.

light worked, timer and control pad worked, but no turntable, no heat, no noises of any sort, just didn't start up

Noted on partselect.com that someone else with this problem, found it to be secondary door switch. There are three door switches in this model, but online info noted that one of the three might feel "soft" (in my case, one switch clicked in a rather "jiggly" way, the other two were strong decisive clicks.) To access the door switches on this model was the only difficult part. First use a torx bit to remove the two torx screws below the latches inside the microwave. This frees the latching part inside, that holds the door switches, which you will remove after you take off the control panel. The top grill has to come off before you can remove the door panel. Remove the screws above the grill, on the microwave top cover, The grill on this model is covered with a panel that moves out when it vents. After removing the two top screws, the covered grill vent slides left to remove. Be careful, as the sliding tabs are plastic. Wiggle and jiggle it, to slip it off. Below the removed grill, is a small metal grill with one screw in lower center. Remove that screw, and wiggle that out. You'll then see the one screw that holds on the control panel. Remove this screw, and lift the control panel up to remove. Again, go slowly and gently, as the bottom tabs holding the control panel in, are also plastic and easily broken. Lay the control panel on something, (I used the coffee maker) and pull out the wire bundles tucked on the left, that are attached to the latching panel. Wiggle the latching panel gently to lift it up off of it's plastic tabs and pull it out towards you, so you can see the three door switches. Each switch (part number WB24X829) has a little black switch on it. Feel each switch with either your finger, or a screwdriver to see which one doesn't "click" strongly. The weak one is the one you will replace. The door switches are fitted into a tab, and plugged into their wires. Remove the defective switch, pull out the wires, and replace it with the new switch, plugging back the wires, and slipping it back into it's plastic tabs. Then put everything back together in reverse order. The entire job took me fifteen minutes EXCEPT for figuring out how to slide off the upper grill, which I have told you. A repairman would have cost $150, the part was $18. AND, there's a good chance, the other two switches will get "used up" in the next year or so as well, so I'll be ready next time. Thank you, Partselect, why work all day, to make money, only to give it to somebody else, for fifteen minutes of work. All I needed was the knowledge.

Microwave dead--no LEDs lit on front panel

Removed microwave from enclosure and removed cover, hoping it was as simple as a blown fuse. Found extremely helpful diagnostic sheet thoughtfully provided by manufacturer in an envelope affixed to top of cavity. Fuse was fine, but tracing the power feed into the machine revealed that the oven cavity thermostat was open--no continuity across it, and the diagnostic sheet indicated that it was non-resettable. Verified the issue by temporarily by-passing the blown thermostat to ascertain that the front panel display got power. It took longer to get the screws for the cover and enclosure back on than it did to replace the thermostat, once I received the replacement part. Microwave works just fine now, thanks!

Turntable won't move, no heat -but light and fan ok.

Remove the 2 Torx-15 screws at left of control panel. Work the control panel out by pulling slightly to the left first - it is engaged to the slotted holes to the right.

Remove the door's upper switch by lifting the tab and pulling out the switch carefully. To install the new switch, you may have to remove 2 philips screws holding the plastic assembly where the switches are mounted to the metal frame.

Diagrams on the website are misleading b/c the switch shown up on top of the other 2 switches is the switch w/ the NC (upper) terminal while you'll need the NO (lower) terminal for this repair (symptoms are: turntable won't move, no heat -but light and fan ok). I should have called before ordering the part (had to pay shipping twice)...

Once I got the right part, it works just like before.

All electircal functions worked except the heating mechanism

A great place to start is to reveiw the posting from "Marla From Arlington TX" posted on 8-3-09. It provides an excellent description of the process that you will need to follow. The only additional thing that I would add is to check the contacts on the switches. In my case I found that all three of the switches had a small build-up of corrosion. I used sandpaper to clean the contacts. Because none of the switches had a "soft" click to them, it was hard to identify the bad one. I basically picked the worse looking one and then cleaned the contacts of the other two. I'm not sure if I actually even had a bad switch or if they all just needed cleaning. Whatever the case, it worked. I would suggest checking the contacts first. You may get away with not having to replace any of the switches. And in my case what makes me think that it may have just simply been dirty contacts is that the heating mechanism would engage every now and then. It wasn't dead 100 percent of the time. It's worth a try anyway.

Microwave Fan Turned on When Door Was Opened

To get to the switches you need to remove the metal cover/housing of the microwave, by first removing several screws that hold it in place, and then sliding the cover towards the back of the unit. You'll find the switches in some plastic holders above the door-open button, and it's its easy to see how the mechanism engages/disengages the switches when the door is opened and closed.

If it is not obvious which switch is bad, in our case the bad switch felt "soft" when we pressed the switch button with our fingers. A good switch has a firm "click" when pressed.

The switches are easy to replace - pop out the old switch (no tools required) and pull off the electrical connectors. Then pop in the new switch and reattach the connectors.

Everything worked on the microwave, except it would not heat anything.

The microwave had been working fine until one day when the timer counted down but the heating motor (or whatever you call it) would not come on. So the timer would count down but nothing inside would get hot. I did not know what it was for sure but decided to take it apart and look. Once I had the control panal off, I found three small wired switches inside. One of these switches appeared to have shorted out. So I searched online and found Partselect.com. I found a matching switch , ordered it (arrived in couple days), put it in, and VOILA it works! Thanks Partselect.com.

Remove microwave outer cover. Turn on side & locate the upper & lower door switches. Better to replace in pairs even if one is ok. Remove the wire harness to each switch. Then replace switch and re connect the wire harness. Re attach outer coverand test to see if that solved the problem. If so then well done!!

Everything seemed to work with the controls, but when you pressed start the light would come on and nothing else. The turntable and heating system would not function.

I unplugged it, removed the outer shell with torque bits and a screwdriver, drained the main capacitor, and began debugging the circuit with my fluke multimeter, found the bad primary interlock, googled the part number, ordered the part, received it in 2 days, replaced the interlock in about 2 minutes, and put the cover back on. Fixed. Saved me about $200 over buying a new unit and was grateful for partselect's great service.

-Keith Packard

Noise and no Heat on Microwave oven.

First, I waste $65 by calling some "REPAIR" service. They showed at home and charge me that just to tell meSecond, I researched on the web and ordered a part, which was not the issue. I waste abnother $72Third, I found Part-Select and got the right answer: the Diode was the problem. Ordered the part form Part-Select and it FIxed it !!!

Note: I did not buy a new microwave because this one is mounted on the wall and it will cost me +$800 just the lowest price.

We purchased our Microhood oven about 4 years ago along with the extended warranty package offered thru home depot. Within one year, the problems began. Each year the secondary switch would go bad rendering the microwave useless. If you have 3 small children like we do, you tend to use it a lot. We sure take the microwave for granted.

Each time G.E. would fix the problem at no charge. Ths time - the warranty had expired and GE wanted to charge us $80.00 for service call plus parts and labor. We estimated the cost to run at least $150.00 or more.

To top it all off, GE was going to have a service tech avail for over 2 weeks. This is poor customer service and completely unaccceptable.

Because this was a recurring problem, I figured it was the same part that had being going bad since we purchased the appliance. I decided to order the part "secondary switch" myself and attempt to fix the microwave on my own.

I ordered the part last Tuesday, the part arrived last Friday. Within 10 minutes I had the microwave apart, replaced the part and had the microwave back in working order.

PartSelect saved me over $100.00.

We are very satified with PartsSelect, I would recommend them to anyone

Fortunately, my brother-in-law suggested it might be the "cut out" switch. After unplugging the microwave, I opened it up and identified one of two cut outs and removed the wires from each side of the cut out. To test if that was the problem, I connected the two wires together, bypassing the cut out. When I plugged the unit back into the wall socket, the lights came back on, and i ran the microwave for a few seconds. It verified that this was the problem. I ordered the part and when it arrived, I removed it with a philips screw driver and replaced it with the new one. I replaced the screw, buttoned the unit back up, plugged it in, and saved a few hundred bucks on a replacement microwave, and as important, saved our landfills and planet a tiny but.